Technology of the Continuum
Set in the future of the human race, technological advances both large and small have allowed mankind to escape the Earth and head into the stars. Innovation has also advanced in military applications, architecture, chemistry and computing Chemistry The discovery of so-called quantum elements has powered much of humanities' reach for the stars, albeit at some destructive cost. Einstrontium Helium-3 Xenogeology The expanding Earth Empire exploited target planets for their natural resources including minerals. The planet Tolvax is rich in the crystelline mineral germaniite, used to catalyse the conversion of CO2 into O2 in life-support systems. Space Travel In 2105, Isaac Dahl demonstrated wormhole technology, revolutionising man's ability to explore beyond the reaches of the Sol solar system. At the same time, there were also significant improvements to the Earth spacefleet, manifesting in a generation of enhanced spaceships, both military & civilian. A number of innovations & breakthroughs allowed these advances, including: *Power *Propulsion systems, including warp-drive *Life Support systems *Interstellar navigation Warp Technology' The history of the Warp Drive did not begin easily. The very first examples of Warp Technology were created by the United States of America in the late 21st Century and rushed into production in the hope of ensuring American domination of the stars. This backfired when the first ship ever equipped with a working Warp Drive malfunctioned and vanished, taking its four crew members with it. This led to a much larger investment inIsaac Dahl 's wormhole research and was a large contributor to the collapse of the United States as a major power. After the loss of The Orion in 2114 AD warp technology became a viable option once again. Although wormhole technology was stabilised in the form of the Hades Construct it required such a huge investment to build a wormhole generator in orbit of each planet that would need to be connected that they were not widely used. Instead the Republic of Southern Africa took on a large amount of the research into Warp Drives and before long travel by wormhole (when not safely connected by a'' Hades Construct'') became seen as barbaric and risky in comparison to the safer but lengthier warp travel. Unlike Hades ''technology the warp drive does not allow a spacecraft to instantly travel to its destination. Instead it literally ''warps ''space/time into a 'bubble' around the craft and then manipulates the fabric of the universe to move. As it is not moving through space/time but ''changing ''it warp technology allows a ship to break normal physical laws and travel faster than the speed of light. The efficiency of the warp drive dictates exactly how fast a ship can travel. Early warp drives allowed civilian travel to be conducted at three times the speed of light, meaning a journey to the first human colony on Gliese 581g took just over seven years despite it being twenty two light years away. This was not fast enough for warp technology to become a viable option however, considering Gliese's ''Hades Construct allowed movement instantaneously. ''By 2170 warp technology allowed civilian craft to move at ten times the speed of light and after the disturbance on Gliese military craft were given the authorisation to move at twenty five times the speed of light getting them from Earth orbit to Gliese in eight months. By 2200 the speed of civilian travel had tripled. Although this allowed transit from Gliese to Earth in just under five months it meant that travel to colonies further away was still in many cases a matter of years. The Colonial Revolutionary Wars saw more investment in warp technology as it became vital for ships to move as quickly as possible and by the turn of the 24th Century the journey to Gliese took weeks rather than months. 24th Century travel posters liked to claim that their ships could do a light-year a day. '''Cryogenic Freezing'' The art of Cryogenic Freezing was a long sort after science that was eventually discovered as part of the international experiments with the Lunar deposits of Helium 3. It allowed organic beings to be put into a kind of statis by which they could be put to sleep almost indefinitely until being woken on command at a later date. Unlike traditional freezing methods, Cryogenics do not cause the water in the human body to expand and rupture the body’s internal organs. Instead they can be used to preserve humans, animals or crops to ensure their survival during long transit through space. Initially Cryogenic Freezing was used while colonists waited in orbit for Builder-Bots to construct their new home so that the incredibly expensive process of opening wormholes would not have to be repeated. When the Warp Drive began being installed on ships however it was used as a means of preserving colonists and preventing any mishaps on the years it could take to arrive at their new planet. It also allowed merchants and explorers to carve out their trade without wasting months of their lives in deep space. Cryogenic technology was much sought after during the Colonial Revolutionary War as it kept soldiers young and ready for action despite having to travel large distances. It meant that elite units could be deployed when needed all throughout the fifty year conflict and meant that many of the conflicts best military minds were able to fight and command all the way through. One of the most famous benefactors of Cryogenics was Admiral Jason Clarke who lived to be almost two hundred years old due to many years in the cold sleep. Military Technologies Military technologies developed quickly with the advent of wormhole travel and again during the Colonial Revolutionary War . Examples include: *Semi-automatic plasma carbines: these became the standard issue weapon for Earth Commonwealth forces and later - once captured weapons had been reverse engineered and adapted - by colonial revolutionary groups. *Cryonic Survival Patches: these patches were developed in the earliest days of wormhole travel. After coating the wearer in a cryoprotectant film, the patch could then freeze the wearer in milliseconds, acting as a temporary preservation against low oxygen, low temperature environments. A later advancement was the ability to thaw the user equally instantaneously after a pre-determined time interval. *Universal Positioning Devices: A device was invented to accurately position the user in relation to galactic zero-centre. The UPD comes in a standardized spherical form factor with a bright, easy to read vis-screen that can display a local and universal map and limited tactical information broadcasts or news updates. Military versions of the UPD sphere usually contain a tracking circuit to locate lost troopers. *Gyro-packs: These light but strong rucksacks have a gyroscopically stabilised interior allowing safe transport of fragile or unstable loads. *Kinetic thermals: Standard issue uniform to troops deployed to cold locations, these body hugging thermals contain a middle layer of friction gel - a semi-fluid matrix that heats up with the kinetic energy of the wearer providing a moderate amount of warmth to the wearer. The tightness of the garments is not always appreciated by the soldiers who have to wear them. Category:Technology